15 September 2013

What We're Reading

I've been on a serious fiction kick lately. I think I'll blame the summer lazies on my recent desire for so much easy reading.

I stumbled upon the author Charles Martin recently. This is going to sound really weird, but I'm usually scared of reading fiction written by a man. I don't know why; maybe I'm nervous the stories will be about blood and guts and war? Or about the old west? But his books caught me by surprise. First I read When Crickets Cry. It is a beautiful story, poetically written and full of thoughtful insights from the medical field. Then I read The Mountains Between Us. Also wonderfully written, although the story line made me sadder. He has quite a few books out so I'm excited to plow through all of them.

Meeka introduced me to Kate Morton. Holy cow. After I finished The Forgotten Garden I closed the book and literally felt like I was coming up for air. Like I had been gone for a few months and had to take a few minutes (hours) to reorient myself as to where I was and what I was supposed to be doing. I own three of her books now (because I love reading books over and over again). Two I got at Powell's and one I got for FREE from the paperback exchange at the library. If you like books you need to try this author. The only sad thing is she doesn't have very many books out yet. I say 'yet' with a hopeful tone. I would be so sad if she never wrote anything again. Although I imagine her brain has to get very tired coming up with the stories she does.

I just checked out Desperate: Hope for the Mom Who Needs to Breathe by Sarah Mae and Sally Clarkson. Ann Voskamp wrote the foreword and she wrote, "I've been the mama who punished when I needed to pray. Who hollered at kids when I needed to help them. Who lunged onward when I needed to lean on Jesus. I've lain in bed too scared to get up and ruin another day- ruin my kids." So yeah, that spoke to me.

I'm curious to read the J.K. Rowling book The Casual Vacancy, and alsoGone Girl by Gillian Flynn because I feel like everyone but me has read that one.

Christian likes any books with good pictures of trains,
trucks, or tractors. Sometimes cows and horses, but mostly he prefers
machinery over animals. His reading choices are really not that interesting. Moving on.

Daphne really likes Pinkalicious. I admit I'm a little torn on it because I really don't like that Pinkalicious disobeys her parents and sneaks cupcakes after she's told not to. She seems a little whiny and bratty. But Daph's pretty cute reciting the book: "You must eat a steady diet of green food!" We don't own any of the books but have gotten them quite a few times from the library. The pictures are engaging and fun. They keep her entertained during her after-lunch-quiet-book-rest (that thing you do to kids who stop napping by age two).

Daphne can also almost completely recite Llama Llama Misses Mama, a story of little llama going off to preschool. One afternoon I went out to get my haircut and Christian started crying like crazy, so Daphne told him, "Never fear, when day is through, she will come right back to you!" It was sweet. I highly recommend this book in particular if your child is having separation anxiety about school. All the llama book by Anna Dewdney are charming and fun and have little nuggets of wisdom to pass on to kids. We only own Misses Mama and Red Pajama, but they are classic enough that I would love to own all of them.

I've heard a lot of great things about The Jesus Storybook Bible. So many great things I kind of want to get it. We have Read and Share Bible and I appreciate the Biblical accuracy in its stories. Daphne told me that her Bible Study teacher told the class they only had to read a little bit of the Bible, but Daphne is determined that she needs needs to read the whole thing. She's had this Bible with her almost constantly lately to prove that she can read the whole Bible. She got this Bible for her 1st Christmas and hasn't tired of it yet, so I can definitely recommend it. I would still like to try out the other one, though, too.

It's hard to imagine that in a year or so Daphne will be reading for herself. I have a feeling she's going to be a little bookworm, and I try to picture her curled up with a book, quiet, for a few hours each day. For some reason I don't think I will mind.

4 comments:

Patricia
said...

Melissa, if you're looking for another good book try Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline. I liked it a lot and think you might too. It's two stories intertwined -- a woman who was sent as an orphan on a train out West to be adopted, and a foster child looking for her way. Very well written.

Love this! I am always searching for books that leave me feeling like I'm "coming up for air" when finished. What a perfect description. If you haven't already (which I'm sure you have, because the whole world had except for me) read John Steinbeck, then do. I've only read East of Eden and have yet to dive into Grapes of Wrath (actually started that one) and Of Mice and Men and his other classics, but East of Eden is GRIPPING. I got so wrapped up in the characters and the story line, and it was all a bit dark and a tinge sad but then ended on the sweetest note of HOPE. Good, good, solid, timeless book. And then for fuzzy fluff that is just delicious to read, check out P.S. I love you by Cecelia Ahern, or also her book "If you could see me now". Can't wait to check out your suggestions! And with this long of a comment, I obviously should be putting my energies towards writing some fiction of my own. Ha.

I liked Forgotten Garden too. I similar kind of book that you'll probably also like is The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. You *might* also like Possession by A.S. Byatt, although it does start a little slow (but eventually gets AMAZING).

About Me

This blog records our family adventures while raising 3 kids. Daphne (12/24/08) is smart as a whip and really funny. She wears the braces on her legs because she was born with club feet and they are ever-so-slowly getting straightened out. She has skeletal dysplasia, AKA an undiagnosed type of dwarfism. She thought it would be good to be born with something that no one else in the world has. Christian (8/31/11) likes cars and airplanes and tractors and trains. He has the best smile, and loves snuggling with his mama and working outside with his dad. Jonas (6/13/14) is a happy, smiley, laughing, chatty baby, with a double chin and under-arm rolls. His older siblings are quite enamored with him, as are his parents.